Robert Wilson Thomas
New Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi
I have been a Type 1 diabetic since 1996. I went into hospital on Nov 25th 2016 for what I was told was a ‘routine’ removal of a minor cancerous tumour on my kidney. That was performed successfully. However, while in the recovery room, I had the first of two cardiac arrests and I suffered some sort of‘ neurological incident’. No-one can explain what the incident was indeed but immediately after my wife was called (at 21:00 – to say that my heart had stopped and that I had been taken to Intensive Care Unit). She was asked to come to the hospital as soon as possible. The Consultant explained that the operation had gone well but they were unable to get me to respond to pain afterwards. Their first “working diagnosis” was a bleed somewhere and they were trying to find it. A first CT scan revealed nothing extraordinary. They had consulted the Neurology Dept at another hospital, and on their (latter’s) suggestion, another CT was done focussing on a specific area of the neck. This came back clear. They kept working down a list of possible candidates to explain what they were seeing in me.
The clinical staff told my wife that my blood pressure and heart rate were going up and down erratically, and that my limbs were thrashing about. At this juncture they had ruled out an epileptic episode.
When my wife finally did see me, I was hooked up to a large number of monitors and I was intubated. A sea of serious faces dressed in surgical scrubs stared at her. Before she could say anything, my limbs started thrashing around. She says that it was horrible, watching me hitting and kicking myself. At this gathering of eight to ten doctors, all in scrubs, discussing possible scenarios, one of the medicos actually said “WHATEVER IT IS, IT IS VERY SERIOUS“
For the next month - 11 days in the Intensive Care Unit, mostly in a coma or barely aware of my surroundings and where I had my second cardiac arrest and a further 17 days in a ward, my feet continued to kick out and I had severe tremors. They still do. Sometimes very violently.
From my best recollection I received insulin twice whilst I was in the ward (once 1 hour and 40 minutes before a meal – I am unsure what dosage they gave me – certainly they made no reference to my blood glucose chart which records dosage – I still have the sheet. This early dose meant that I went into a hypo - BG 2.4). I had to ask for blood tests to be performed, which they were on several (!) occasions. They were not done routinely, or before meals as they should have been.
I strongly suspect that I suffered several undetected hypoglycaemic episodes and during which my brain was starved of oxygen.
I spent January to April this year having frequent hypos. In February my diabetic clinic changed my insulin (from Levemir 50 i/u twice a day) to Toujeo (80 i/u once a day). They left the Novorapid at 22 i/u before breakfast, 14 i/u before lunch and 20 i/u before dinner. The frequent hypos continued. Then in April I was hospitalised with a severe chest complaint/borderline pneumonia and the Diabetic Department came to my help. I am now on (60 i/u Toujeo once a day, 6 i/u Novorapid before breakfast, 3 i/u of Novorapid before lunch and a further 6 i/u before dinner. Not surprisingly the hypos have stopped.
I was sent home from hospital on 23rd December with the advice (from a consultant, no less) that I have a second banister fitted to the stairs in our home. (Really? Two days before Christmas? In Ireland?). It is a well known fact that consultants live in a different world from we mere mortals.
Now at home I fall frequently (50 to 60 times in the first five months of this year.) I have been to Accident and Emergency several times and I still cannot walk properly without a stick (good days) or a stroller or zimmer walking frame (usually). Outside I must be taken in a wheelchair.
Sometimes even with the stroller it is all that I can do to make baby steps – two or three inches at a time. Slow but laborious.
My physio says that after five months hard work my legs are stronger but my balance is no better than it was in January.
I have lost almost three stone and my waist (belt) has shrunk by six or seven notches. None of my clothes fits!
My last visit to the neurosurgeon (February) cost €400, told me nothing that I hadn’t already been told before in the ward, save that he didn’t know what was wrong with me. His report acknowledged that I had deteriorated since leaving the hospital. He suggested that I go away for six months to see if I improve. I haven’t. I still fall over and can’t walk properly.
I am convinced that poor diabetic control whilst in the hospital is at least a contributory cause of my problems. Proof is the big thing. The hospital has delayed providing my records for four months, despite the best efforts of my solicitor. I am sure that the lack of proper BG monitoring will be evident, as will the lackadaisical attitude to hypos, insulin and proper diabetes control.
Has anyone else suffered tremors/falls after a series of hypos or a period of unsupervised/uncontrolled blood glucose?
I have been a Type 1 diabetic since 1996. I went into hospital on Nov 25th 2016 for what I was told was a ‘routine’ removal of a minor cancerous tumour on my kidney. That was performed successfully. However, while in the recovery room, I had the first of two cardiac arrests and I suffered some sort of‘ neurological incident’. No-one can explain what the incident was indeed but immediately after my wife was called (at 21:00 – to say that my heart had stopped and that I had been taken to Intensive Care Unit). She was asked to come to the hospital as soon as possible. The Consultant explained that the operation had gone well but they were unable to get me to respond to pain afterwards. Their first “working diagnosis” was a bleed somewhere and they were trying to find it. A first CT scan revealed nothing extraordinary. They had consulted the Neurology Dept at another hospital, and on their (latter’s) suggestion, another CT was done focussing on a specific area of the neck. This came back clear. They kept working down a list of possible candidates to explain what they were seeing in me.
The clinical staff told my wife that my blood pressure and heart rate were going up and down erratically, and that my limbs were thrashing about. At this juncture they had ruled out an epileptic episode.
When my wife finally did see me, I was hooked up to a large number of monitors and I was intubated. A sea of serious faces dressed in surgical scrubs stared at her. Before she could say anything, my limbs started thrashing around. She says that it was horrible, watching me hitting and kicking myself. At this gathering of eight to ten doctors, all in scrubs, discussing possible scenarios, one of the medicos actually said “WHATEVER IT IS, IT IS VERY SERIOUS“
For the next month - 11 days in the Intensive Care Unit, mostly in a coma or barely aware of my surroundings and where I had my second cardiac arrest and a further 17 days in a ward, my feet continued to kick out and I had severe tremors. They still do. Sometimes very violently.
From my best recollection I received insulin twice whilst I was in the ward (once 1 hour and 40 minutes before a meal – I am unsure what dosage they gave me – certainly they made no reference to my blood glucose chart which records dosage – I still have the sheet. This early dose meant that I went into a hypo - BG 2.4). I had to ask for blood tests to be performed, which they were on several (!) occasions. They were not done routinely, or before meals as they should have been.
I strongly suspect that I suffered several undetected hypoglycaemic episodes and during which my brain was starved of oxygen.
I spent January to April this year having frequent hypos. In February my diabetic clinic changed my insulin (from Levemir 50 i/u twice a day) to Toujeo (80 i/u once a day). They left the Novorapid at 22 i/u before breakfast, 14 i/u before lunch and 20 i/u before dinner. The frequent hypos continued. Then in April I was hospitalised with a severe chest complaint/borderline pneumonia and the Diabetic Department came to my help. I am now on (60 i/u Toujeo once a day, 6 i/u Novorapid before breakfast, 3 i/u of Novorapid before lunch and a further 6 i/u before dinner. Not surprisingly the hypos have stopped.
I was sent home from hospital on 23rd December with the advice (from a consultant, no less) that I have a second banister fitted to the stairs in our home. (Really? Two days before Christmas? In Ireland?). It is a well known fact that consultants live in a different world from we mere mortals.
Now at home I fall frequently (50 to 60 times in the first five months of this year.) I have been to Accident and Emergency several times and I still cannot walk properly without a stick (good days) or a stroller or zimmer walking frame (usually). Outside I must be taken in a wheelchair.
Sometimes even with the stroller it is all that I can do to make baby steps – two or three inches at a time. Slow but laborious.
My physio says that after five months hard work my legs are stronger but my balance is no better than it was in January.
I have lost almost three stone and my waist (belt) has shrunk by six or seven notches. None of my clothes fits!
My last visit to the neurosurgeon (February) cost €400, told me nothing that I hadn’t already been told before in the ward, save that he didn’t know what was wrong with me. His report acknowledged that I had deteriorated since leaving the hospital. He suggested that I go away for six months to see if I improve. I haven’t. I still fall over and can’t walk properly.
I am convinced that poor diabetic control whilst in the hospital is at least a contributory cause of my problems. Proof is the big thing. The hospital has delayed providing my records for four months, despite the best efforts of my solicitor. I am sure that the lack of proper BG monitoring will be evident, as will the lackadaisical attitude to hypos, insulin and proper diabetes control.
Has anyone else suffered tremors/falls after a series of hypos or a period of unsupervised/uncontrolled blood glucose?
